Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copt. ) 



Six Months, $2. 1* 



NEW YORK, MAY 8, 1887. 



j VOL. XXVIII.-No. 15. 



1 Nos. 39 & 40 Park Row, New York. 





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Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 

 Nos. 39 and 40 Park Row. New York City. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 

 Sport. 



The Audubon Society. 



Snap Shots. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Winter in Wonderland.— v. 



Spring iu Virginia. 



In Georgia Forests. 

 Naturae History. 



Troubadours and Trouveres. 



Migration of the Fox Squirrel. 



Mongrel or Hvbrid Geese. 



Cats Afield. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Reminiscences of Havre de 

 Grace. 



The National Park. 



A Trip to Lake CJiamplain. 



Canadian Woods Outfit. 



Spots in Barrels. 



A Panther Hunt in the Cane- 

 bi ake. 



The Elusive Snipe. 



Huntiug Rifle Sights. 



New York Game Laws. 



Wisconsin Game Laws. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



-Adirondack Preserve Associa- i Canoeing. 

 tion. \ The Pearl. 



The Maine Season. Reckless Canoeing. 



The Dogwood Blossoms. . Answers to Correspondents. 



THIRTY-TWO PAGES. 

 Four pages arc added to the usual twenty-eight, and this 

 issue of Forest and Stream consists of thirty-two pages. 



FlSHCULTURE. 



Salmon in the Hudson. 

 Connecticut Shellfish Commis- 

 sion. 



Blueback and Sunapee Trout. 

 The Kennel. 



Hartford Dog Show. 



New York Dcg Show. 



Standards and Judges. 



The Pittsburgh Judging. 



Working and Non-Sporting 

 Spaniels. 



Kennel Management. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



Military Rifle Practice. 



The Ballard Rifle Matches. 



The Trap. 



Decoration Day Trophy. 

 Yachting. 

 Fifty Years of Yacht Building. 

 The Singlehander Dawn. 

 America's Cup R aces. 

 Launch of the Shamrock. 

 Cedar Point Y. C. 

 Challenge to Open Boats. 



THE AUDUBON SOCIETY. 

 T^HE movement inif ated by the Foeest and Stream 

 J- in February, 1886, for ths protection of American 

 non-game birds has met with great success. At the 

 present writing the Audubon Society numbers about 

 thirty thousand members, who are scattered over the 

 length and b eadth of this continent, besides a consider- 

 ab e numb'r of persons in the various States of Europe, 

 in I : dia, P rsia and other out of the way countries. The 

 expenses of this movement, which have been very heavy, 

 have been bo ne by the Forest and Stream Publishing 

 Company without any assistance from outside persons. 



In February of the present y :ar the Audubon Magazine, 

 a monthly publication, was produced. The purpose of 

 this periodical was a double one. It was designed first 

 to create a rational interest in birds, and to convey in- 

 struction 9 s to their services — now so imperfectly under- 

 stodo — to man, thus creating a popular sentiment in their 

 favor, and second to create a fund which might cover 

 the expenses of the Society and provide for its extension 

 without any appeal to the public in aid of the move- 

 ment. 



It was determined to publish the Audubon Magazine 

 at the very low price of fifty cents per annum in order to 

 bring it witbin the reach of every one, to secure for it the 

 widest possible currency, and so to secure the best results 

 for the birds which tbe Audubon Society desires to pro- 

 tect. At this very low price it is evident that it must at- 

 tain a very large circulation before even the expenses of 

 publication can be met, to say nothing of contributing to 

 a fund to meet the expenses of the Society. Four num- 

 bers of the magazine have been published, and we are 

 thus enabled to form an intelligent judgment of the char- 

 acter of the periodical. It is full of matter which is both 

 instructive and entertaining." Each number contains a 

 full page illustration of some well-known bird, carefully 

 reproduced from Audubon's plate, together with a 



description and life history of the species figured. 

 Besides this the story of the life of the great artist-natur- 

 alist is appearing as a serial. Economic questions are 

 treated in an intelligent and novel way, and there are 

 lighter articles and stories for the younger folks. Simply 

 as a work of instruction in natural history, and aside 

 from the entertainment furnished by its well-written 

 pages, and the good service which it must serve, the 

 Audubon Magazine is by far the cheapest publication 

 that we know of. 



Sportsmen generally — and above all the sportsmen who 

 read the Forest and Stream — are opposed to any wanton 

 slaughter of any living thing, and those who desire the 

 protection of our small bir s and sea fowl can in no way 

 more effectively contribute to that end than by subscrib- 

 ing to the magazine and endeavoring to enlarge its 

 constituency. 



THE DECORATION DAY TROPHY. 

 pvECOEATION Day is observed as a public holiday in 

 J-^eleven States. While not a national holiday, its ob- 

 servance is so wide that the Forest and Stream is 

 perhaps justified in hoping that the participation in the 

 Decoration Day Trophy contest may be so widespread 

 as to be national in character. The competition is open 

 to the whole country and to every State, whether May 30 

 be observed as a holiday or not. The conditions have 

 been made purposely broad so that small clubs might not 

 be excluded and that general participation in the friendly 

 contest of arms might be assured. 



An illustration of the silver Trophy is given in our 

 Trap columns, and speaks for itself. 



We repeat a request already made, that club secre- 

 taries will send in then- entries at a day as early as con- 

 venient and in advance of the final date for closing of 

 entries. 



SPORT. 



\\T HO shall define what sport is ? The first definition 



' ' of the word given in "Webster's Unabridged" is 

 "that which diverts the mind." but the answer to the 

 riddle we propound lies somewhere within the wide 

 bounds of a definition further down the page, "diversion 

 of the field, as fowling, hunting and fishing." 



One sportsman would answer that it is to kill much 

 game or catch many fish by legitimate and fair methods 

 (and no one is a sportsman who w T ould employ any other 

 to that end), regardless of any discomfort one may suffer, 

 or risk of limb, health or lif e he may run, indeed that 

 such risk increases the sport. 



Another, perhaps in the minority, would maintain that 

 it is not the largeness of the score, but the interest and 

 excitement of pursuit, and the skill exercised that con- 

 stitute sport. That to obtain one shot at wary game, to 

 make one successful difficult shot, to hook and land one 

 large and cunning trout with nice choice of lure and 

 skillful handling, is sport in a fuller sense than easier 

 slaughter of a larger bag or creel. Another that 

 for him there can be no sport with continued discomfort 

 and hardship. He would not suffer the torment of July 

 heat and mosquitoes for all the woodcock in the swamps, 

 nor the freezing and drenching of November and Decem- 

 ber winds and waves for a boat-load of waterfowl, nor 

 wade ice-cold April brooks for all the trout they hold. 

 Give him the tempered air and water of May and June, 

 when birds are singing and flowers blooming, October 

 woods, abated of the nuisance of insect life, and per- 

 fumed with the pungent scent of falling leaves, invigor- 

 ating with air neither too warm nor too cold, with fish 

 and game plenty and not too wary, and his ideal of sport 

 is realized. And another, doubtless in a smaller minority, 

 will answer with fervor of conviction, that "it is not all 

 of hunting to bunt, nor of fishing to fish;" that what 

 makes the pursuit of fish and game most enjoyable and 

 sport to him is the communion with nature which he 

 has with rod and gun for convenient excuses and agree- 

 able adjuncts. What he sees and hears are more to him 

 than anything tangible he brings home. 



The man who hunts foxes on foot, and shoots them be- 

 fore his one or two hounds, swears by his safe sport and 

 sees nothing unfair in that which is as much despised by 

 him who risks his limbs and neck in riding to the park 

 as the drag hunt is by the oth«r. One counts it no sport 

 to shoot without the aid of a trained dog, and nothing 

 game that such a dog will not stand. Another is content 

 to stalk his own game, and almost everything wild is 

 game to hint. Highhole, squirrel and woodchuck help 



to fill his bag, and he enjoys the gathering of them in as 

 keenly as the more ambitious sportsman does the scien- 

 tific taking of his woodcock, quail and grouse. One is 

 satisfied with the excitement of shooting at flying targets, 

 living or inanimate, thrown from a trap; wliile another 

 can see nothing but cruelty, or better than boys' play in 

 such shooting. 



One angler is happy " yanking" bullheads and sunfish 

 from quiet waters with coarse tackle and a rod that was 

 never made with hands, while another would find no 

 more sport in such ignoble pastime than in digging the 

 worms for bait. He must have delicate tackle, handled 

 with nicety of skill in a well-fought struggle with a 

 game fish to make fishing sport for him. It must be a 

 fine art, not the hauling out of fish by main strength. 



So, among the multiplicity of answers from these and 

 many more, we get no definite one. We must be satis- 

 fied with that which comes nearest our own idea of what 

 constitutes sport, and, spreading the broad mantle of 

 charity over all, despise not kinship with any who, by 

 means not unfair or dishonorable, seek diversion in the 

 field in fowling, hunting and fishing. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 n^HE report of the Philadelphia Zoological Society for 

 the year ending March 1, 1887, is a very satisfactory 

 one. It shows a considerable increase in admissions, the 

 total receipts from this source being $34,213.20, an increase 

 over last year of $5,893.21. If the Philadelphia Society 

 shows such good results, it is certainly fair to suppose that 

 a good zoological garden in New York would do even 

 better. The day when New York will have a satisfactory 

 collection of wild animals cannot be much longer delayed. 

 The sooner it comes the better. 



This week appears the final instalment of our special 

 correspondent's report on the winter features of the Na- 

 tional Park. It has an especial interest to all sportsmen, 

 for it gives a very full account of the large game to be 

 found in the northern portion of the Park. In connection 

 with this last letter of Mr. Hofer's series, the account of 

 the arrest of trappers in the Park, by Captain Harris, 

 will be read with interest. Eternal vigilance is the price 

 of protection here, and Captain Harris is anxious to do 

 his w hole duty for the Park. His selection of Ed. Wil- 

 son as the guide who should lead the soldiers to the trap- 

 pers' camp, was an admirable one, for Wilson is well 

 known to have been one of the most efficient of the old 

 force of assistant superintendents. As more and more 

 comes to be known about the Park and the public interest 

 in it increases, the prospects of obtaining from Congress 

 the necessary legislation with regard to this reservation 

 seem to grow brighter. 



Game legislation at Albany drags its slow length along. 

 The laws as yet remain unchanged, and the trout fishing 

 season in the Forest Preserve began last Monday. The 

 suggestion of a correspondent who proposes that a State 

 convention be called to take charge of next year's game 

 legislation is sensible. Years ago we pointed out to the 

 New York State Association for the Protection of Fish 

 and Game a w r ay to make itself useful in this work, but 

 that society, which was so finical as not to endure to be 

 titled a "sportsmen's" association, systematically neg- 

 lected its duty. If ever any body of men looked tired it 

 was this New York association whenever a member rose 

 in meeting to talk about game protection. 



These sunny May afternoons the Forest and Stream's 

 grizzlies, in their Central Park rock pit, munch pea- 

 nuts and gaze indifferently at the roaring Hon over 

 across the way. They are good-mannered, happy-dispo- 

 sitioned brutes. The policeman on the outside of their 

 den enjoys the May days too, for the bright weather 

 brings to the bear pit throngs of women and children, 

 at whom he can bawl to move on, as he hustles them 

 roughly away. Central Park policeman have not a very 

 enviable reputation for their bearing toward citizens, 

 and this one at the bear pit can on occasion make him- 

 self particularly insolent and offensive. 



Our correspondent "Jay Bebee" in another column 

 touches on the definition of hybrid, and his views in this 

 respect will hardly be accepted by naturalists. Any of 

 the North American wild geese are different species from 

 the domestic goose, and so the offspring of a union of 

 any one of them with the barnyard fowl would be a 

 hybrid. 



